Pope Vigilius

Pope Vigilius (500-7 June 555) was Pope from 537 to 555, succeeding Pope Silverius and preceding Pope Pelagius I.

Biography
Vigilius was born in 500 AD in Rome, the son of Ioannes. Vigilius was ordained as a deacon in 531 AD, and he was made papal representative in Constantinople by Pope Agapetus I. Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire paid Vigilius 700 pounds of gold and the See of Rome in exchange for avenging the deposition of Anthimus I of Constantinople. In 536 Agapetus died while Vigilius was away in Constantinople, and his successor Pope Silverius died the next year after being exiled by Belisarius, who conquered Rome from the Ostrogoths for the Byzantine Empire. Vigilius was elected to succeed him, and in 540 AD he betrayed the Byzantines by making a stand against Monophysite Christianity, stating that Pope Leo I and the Council of Chalcedon were right, as was the deposition of Anthimus. He reigned until his death in 555 AD.